Safety Milestone Brings Benefits to Community Health and Wellness

In June, employees and contractors at the Kalgoorlie mine in Australia voted to donate their safety bonus to local health and wellness programs in the Kalgoorlie community.

In recognition of reaching a major safety milestone of four million hours without a Lost Time Injury (LTI), KCGM offered its staff a bonus as an incentive to keep striving for a safer workplace. KCGM General Manager Ian Butler spoke about the tradition and its impact this year:

“Around eight years ago, staff decided they wanted to donate the rewards for reaching our safety milestones to the community, and this year, they voted to give $11,400 to a local youth program and $36,960 to Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital.”

The Police Citizens Youth Club (PCYC), Headspace (Australia’s youth mental health foundation), the Department of Sports and Recreation, and the Western Australia Police are working together during the July school holidays to create a two-week activity program for local youth in Kalgoorlie. Funds donated from KCGM’s safety bonus will help PCYC host a monthly disco event – an out-of-school activity that promotes exercise and self-esteem.

Part of the staff donation will go toward funding the set-up of Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital’s gynaecology clinic.

The recent departure of the town’s only resident gynaecologist has affected access to this service for women living in the Goldfields. With KCGM’s support, the hospital can continue to ensure that the service will be provided to women locally so they don’t have to drive six hours to Perth to receive this medical care.

Previous KCGM safety milestone bonuses have been donated to the Mayor’s Blanket Appeal, the Goldfields Aged Pensioners Relief Fund, Goldfields Women’s Refuge, Life Without Barriers and Foodbank, to name a few.

Mr. Butler commended KCGM’s staff, saying the donations are a reflection of their commitment to the region. “Each of us is a member of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder community and it’s great to see that the recipients of this bonus were suggested by KCGM staff. We are pleased to showcase the generosity of our employees and contractors in making a meaningful difference in the community.”

Comments

Posted by: Clayton A. Prothro

August 3, 2017 at 2:53 pm

Well done KCGM employees. First, on reaching that 4M hour mark with no LTI’s. Team work in action! Second on showing true generosity and leadership in the community with the donation to some worthy causes. Here’s to those trends continuing.